Our Favorite Buttery Herb Stuffing.
This is the best stuffing recipe ever!
Seriously, it’s our favorite stuffing and the only one I make now. The edges are golden and crunchy, the inside is soft. It’s wildly flavorful and buttery and filled with herbs and most importantly, a delicious neutral flavor that truly goes with any meal.
Stuffing is by FAR my favorite side dish. In fact, Thanksgiving is alllll about the side dishes for me. Each one gets better than the last. And yes, technically this would be considered dressing since I’m serving it outside the bird.
However!
You can use this to stuff the bird if you wish. I’ve done it both ways, because we have a few family members who loved stuffing from inside the turkey.
I also think it’s a fairly regional thing? No one here calls stuffing “dressing” – really ever! It’s always stuffing, and that’s what I grew up with.
But that’s neither here nor there. I wanted to share my favorite best stuffing recipe with you today because we’re all about the classics this year. I want my Thanksgiving plate to taste like it did all those wonderful, comforting cozy years ago.
P.S. yes this is one of very few recipes you will find where I use celery. I still loathe it, but find it an important building block of flavor in stuffing!
My mom has always made delicious stuffing. It’s completely traditional and classic because as I’ve said every year, my family absolutely loses it if there is an unconventional dish on the table. I mean, remember the one year I tried to bring butternut squash lasagna?
Did not go over well.
But really, my mom’s stuffing is so good. This recipe is a modern twist on hers – very similar ingredients, but more fresh herbs. Also, still lots of butter. LOTS. It’s worth it! It’s Thanksgiving, and butter gives you that toasty, rich flavor with the crispy crunchy edges.
This recipe feeds about eight people, but I’ll be the first to tell you that in my house, stuffing always goes first. It’s one thing that people usually take seconds of, and it’s the one dish they also want to take home for leftovers! So because of that, I never mind making a lot.
If you’re scaling down your celebration this year, I’m happy to tell you that this recipe can be cut in half easily! And if you’re feeling more people, you can easily double this too. Honestly, I always double this for the reasons above. I liiiiive for stuffing.
If you have leftover stuffing…
I suggest using it for a breakfast hash skillet with eggs. I’ve also successfully thrown it in a waffle maker to create a stuffing waffle. Now that is incredible.
You can use it on a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich, stuff in inside of bell peppers or simply freeze it to bring it our on a chilly night in winter. It’s the best dinner time treat!
Now I know that I’m all about the classic stuffing this year. But if you’re craving more variety, I have quite the selection to choose from. Last year I showed you how to make this but grilled the bread, which adds a really great twist.
I’ve also done slow cooker stuffing before too, in case you don’t want to really bother with it!
And, this double bread stuffing recipe that so many of you use every year and love!
Which stuffing is your favorite to make?!
Best Stuffing Recipe!
Our Favorite Buttery Herb Stuffing
Ingredients
- 18 to 24 ounces bread cubes, (1.5 loaves of bread, or about 12 to 14 cups) preferably toasted or stale
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 3 cups diced sweet onion, roughly 2 large onions
- 2 cups diced celery
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- kosher salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 large eggs
- a mixture of fresh herbs for sprinkling
Instructions
- Note about the bread cubes! You have options here. Stale or toasty bread works best. The first option is that you can cut 1 ½ pounds of bread into cubes, place it in a large baking dish, loosely tent with foil and let it sit overnight. You can also cut the cubes and put them in oven, toasting them at 350 degrees F until they are like croutons, about 15 minutes or so. Finally, you can buy the toasted bread cubes in bags from the store. It’s your choice! You can also choose the size of your cubes. They can be small or larger for a more rustic stuffing.
- My mom has always used a mixture of stale and fresh bread. Also, I like to use different kinds of bread (usually two), like a sourdough and italian, and mix the cubes. It provides great texture.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a 9x13 baking dish (you can also use a larger baking dish or a larger foil roasting pan too!) with melted butter, olive oil or spray with nonstick spray. Place the bread in a large mixing bowl (this may be easier for you to stir!) or the baking dish that you will bake it in. You can also separate this into two baking dishes if it's easier.
- Heat the butter in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Once melted, stir in the onion, celery and garlic with a big pinch of salt and pepper - at least ½ to 1 teaspoon each. Cook until the onions and celery soften, about 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the sage, parsley and rosemary. Cook for another minute. Stir in 1 cup of stock.
- Pour the onion celery mixture over the bread crumbs and toss well to coat.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the remaining 1 ½ cups stock and 2 eggs.
- Pour that mixture into the bread cubes and stir and fold the bread cubes until thoroughly combined. Bake the stuffing for 45 to 50 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 160 degrees F. If the stuffing is getting too browned, you can tent it with foil.
- I have successfully made this a day ahead of time and reheated it - it’s just as good! emove the pan from the fridge 60 minutes before reheating it. You can also use this mixture to stuff the bird if you wish!
- To serve 4: Cut this recipe in half exactly and bake it in an 8x8 or 9x9 inch dish. I bake for the same amount of time.
- To serve 12 to 18: Double this recipe exactly. Bake in a large baking dish, like a 10x15 roasting pan, or baking in two 9x13 baking dishes. I bake for roughly the same amount of time, or about 15 minutes longer.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
Look at that buttery golden crunch!
1,044 Comments on “Our Favorite Buttery Herb Stuffing.”
We all loved this stuffing. I fried my diced bread in butter also onions and celery it’s delicious. Thank you 😊
I have a bag full of end bread pieces from variety of loaves that I have frozen. Finally found a recipe I think I can use. After I thaw the bread do I need to let it sit out overnight?
This stuffing is perfect. (Yes I made it in February) great crunch on top and tenderness on the inside!!!! I’ll definitely be using this recipe again!
Can I prepare this today and cook in oven tomorrow????
yes! the instructions are above in the recipe.
I am anxious to try this recipe! We are attending a wedding and they’re doing a Pig roast. Does this stuffing compliment Pork?
If I were to use Poultry Seasoning instead of fresh, do you have an idea how much I should use?,?
In my experience you use one tsp dried to every TB of fresh. Although in my opinion, 1TB fresh rosemary is powerful stuff.
Can I make this a day ahead but not cook it just prepare it and put it in the fridge and cook it the next day?
yes!
Can this be made without the eggs?
Yes, but it won’t clump together as much
I made this one in the slow cooker using the timing instructions from your slow cooker stuffing recipe. It turned out great!
Modified it to gluten free for our guest with celiac (used gluten fee chicken stock and bread…cubed the bread and oven toasted). Fabulous! Thanks :)
I made this for Thanksgiving this year. I love stuffing, but decided to try a recipe for dressing outside of the turkey as I wanted to have a really nice moist turkey. This recipe was the bomb! It turned out great, and my turkey dinner was probably the best I’ve made. I am so happy. I will definitely be making it every occasion that calls for a turkey.
Sounds delish!
Can I soften the celery and onions in the microwave instead of a skillet?
Thank you
I make this every year. It is the best.
Thanks for reminding me about this on Instagram. I look forward to it every holiday.
I made this for my husbands Canadian thanksgiving and plan on making it for American thanksgiving again. Thanks for the best recipe!
has anyone ever added apples?
I want to know this too!
Apples, chopped nuts, cranberries, marble rye bread mixed in
This sounds delicious! If I double the recipe the day before, what are the reheating diections on Thanksgiving?
if you are cooking it fully the day before, just reheat in a low oven until warm! time will depend on how large your pan is, etc. i would say it probably needs 45-60 mins to reheat nicely if doubling.
When you say you make it the day before,.. do you bake it the day before and then reheat it …at what temp and how long do you reheat it at? Do you cover it?
i do bake it fully. i suggest reheating around 300 or 325 for 30-45 minutes. this will depend on the kind of dish you use and what else is in the oven, so start checking after 30ish minutes!
Can we use the pepperidge farm stuffing bread bags in place of the bread? It’s what we have on hand.
I’d like know this too.
Not here to leave a review, as I already wrote mine last year. Just here to say I’m making a big batch of this today and freezing it for Thanksgiving. I made this for the first time last year and it is now my quintessential Thanksgiving stuffing!
how does freezing it work? Does it freeze well? I work on thanksgiving (get off early) and am trying to prep in advance!! Thanks
Honestly not sure, as this is my first time trying. I froze it uncooked because 1) Google told me to, and 2) I anticipate needing to add a little more stock to the mixture before baking it.
Nobody cares about your life story, just get on with the recipe.
That is really rude and there is no need for that. Just click the jump to recipe button at the top if you don’t want to read their blog.
Wow Foo, wouldn’t want to sitting around your dinner table at Thanksgiving!! ….be a better human
Yeah Foo, you probably just shouldn’t use recipe blogs or maybe even modern cookbooks for that matter, as most come with a story/background about the cook and recipe. Pretty standard across the board. And you really don’t have any leg to stand on as there’s a “Jump to Recipe” link right at the top of the page for people that can’t be bothered with a little extra reading.
FOO, You may just need to make an appt to get that attitude checked! Learn how to skip ahead to read the recipe and quit lashing out at people who are sharing…dont like blogs? Learn how to cook another way!
Hurt People Hurt others. Sending positive thoughts of hope and healing to FOO and the people he hurts.
You do realize you can just skip to the recipe?
Excellent. I used Rosemary Sea Salt bread toasted and stale French Baguette. stale.
How would you suggest making this without onions?? Should I add more celery? My MIL can’t have onions. Im going to do 1 batch with and 1 batch without.
i think i’d just leave them out! but i don’t love celery. if you DO love celery, you could definitely double the celery. otherwise, just skip the onion. :)
I would not double the celery because it adds such a strong overpowering taste. I would use a scallion (end of the green onion) shallot, or a small amount of leek. To give a milder onion flavor. Or just use less onion and finer dice. Cooking it also mellows the flavor a great deal.
If your MIL can’t have onion – do NOT add scallion, shallot, leek, or finer diced onion. Leave them out completely. Speaking from experience, anything from the allium family can cause severe and painful intestinal symptoms (for days). Yes, you can add more celery, this is what I use to replace onion in many recipes. My body also cannot tolerate onion, and this is not to be confused with “not liking” onion.
How long and at what temp did you reheat it the next day? I plan on making this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner. There is just too much to get done and I only have one oven.
it depends on what else is in the oven at the time. i usually reheat around 300 or 325, for around 30 minutes. but this will depend on the kind of dish you use, what else may be in the oven, etc. i’d say give at least 30-45 minutes for reheating!
Hi – Can you freeze this?
yes you can freeze it. i would bake it fully and then let cool and freeze. thaw, then reheat until warm inside.
I have an egg allergy but this looks amazing! Do you have any suggestions to replace the eggs?
I’m going to try the flax seed egg substitute by Bob’s Red Mill – I’ve used it in other things (allergic to eggs myself) and it works great
I made this using sourdough and Italian ciabatta that I dehydrated in the oven. I also used dried herbs (use 1/3 the amount of dried herbs when substituting for fresh). This came out so good I was eating it directly from the roasting pan, LOL! Hope it goes over well at the potluck tomorrow.
I have not made this but it looks & sounds great. Can I use dried herbs and if so how much of each? I would like to make it but I have a really, really hard time chopping fresh herbs. By the way, I now live in Nevada but I grew up just north of you in Mercer.
Has anyone just used poultry seasoning and if so, what were the amounts? I know this sounds weird but I live in small town Kentucky and sometimes access to fresh herbs especially around the holidays is virtually impossible. I know I could use dried herbs but I love the flavor of the poultry seasoning.
i haven’t, but i think it would work. i would start with 2 teaspoons!
I want to make this & freeze til thanksgiving…2 weeks away. Think this will be ok?
it will be okay. i don’t think it will be the best it could be, but okay – yes.
Planning on smoking a bird for thanksgiving for 3-4 hours at 300 degrees. Should I put the stuffing in the bird at the beginning or wait until it has cooked for a while? Can I still prep the recipe a day early if planning on using it to stuff the Turkey.
This might be a weird question. I will be very limited on oven space, and plan on making it a day a head. Would it be possible to reheat it in a crockpot or my large roaster?
yes! i have done this multiple times. it works great!
What do you use in your herbs for sprinkling?
Fresh ingredients?
Dry herbs?
Can’t wait to try this!
Hi! Have you ever added italian sausage to this stuffing? Would you recommend? If so how much and when to incorporate?
Also wondering about this! Wondering if it adds extra fat and if butter should be reduced.
Just made this as a practice for Thanksgiving! Really delicious!
Just wondering what I could do to make it “clump together” a little more? Thanks!
Question on making it in advance – is it best to bake it the day before and then reheat? Or make it the day before but not bake it – instead bake it the next day? And if you double the recipe can you tell me how long for whichever scenario you say is best? Thank you sooo much!!
Would like to know the same . I wasn’t sure which was the better option.
i prefer to bake it the day before (right after making it). if you assemble then bake, the butter, eggs and stock kind of soak into the bread. it still works but i prefer to bake and reheat personally.
I know that you said celery is an important building block for this recipe. But I CAN’T use it. I became allergic to it a few years ago.
I have a hard time coming up with a substitute for recipes that the celery crunch or flavor are important to. It is important for so many soups and salads.
Any suggestions for this stuffing recipe??
Kaye, I would just leave it out! I actually dislike celery greatly and leave it out of most recipes. :) if you really want something else for this you could do diced carrots? but you really can just leave it out!
Hello! Looking forward to using this recipe this year! Does anyone have advice on what kind of bread to use? Is it just plain old white sliced bread? Any brands that make it better?
I used sourdough and Italian! Came out great!
I’m going to follow another persons comment and use sourdough and ciabatta. I make homemade sourdough weekly so it will work out great .
i use a mix of sourdough and white italian bread.
I just made a double batch to freeze for Thanksgiving. I tried a bite and wow it’s delicious!! Glad I found this recipe, was looking for something neutral & tasty and this was perfect! I think I may have found my go to stuffing recipe for many more Thanksgiving holidays to come!
I made this last year and it came out great! I’m going to make it again this year for a much larger gathering – about 28 people (4 of them children). Do you think I need to triple the recipe or would double be enough?
so glad!! i personally would triple it because we LOVE to have lots of leftover stuffing (and i send my guests home with leftovers too).
Has anyone added sausage (like sage pork sausage) to this recipe??! How did it turn out? Would really like to make this is 2 weeks. Thanks!!
i have seen lots of people in the comments add it! sounds like it works great.
Crazy question….I’m going to stuff the turkey….do I bake the stuffing first and then stuff the bird? Or do I mix it all together and put it in the bird without baking the stuffing first?
you usually mix it all together and then stuff it in the bird. but anytime you stuff the bird, you want to make sure the stuffing registers at 165 degrees F with a thermometer before consuming!
can you add sausage or bacon to this?
yes, you can. i would brown it and add it in with the vegetables!
Hi, I was thinking of adding roasted chestnuts to this, how do you think that would turn out? Thank you!
i think that would be delicious!
What kind of bread do you use?
I watched your IG video on this and I don’t see when you add the egg mixture.
If we are using minced garlic rather than buying the cloves and mincing ourselves, how much minced garlic should be used? 1 Tablespoon? 2?
Thank you
One teaspoon of minced garlic is equal to about one clove. I put garlic in almost everything so I always buy the jar of minced garlic instead of cloves.
What kind of bread do you recommend? Is the bag of Arnold precut cubes okay to use?
yes you can use precut. i like to use sourdough and italian bread!
I haven’t made it yet but has anybody added sausage to this recipe? My fiancé says our stuffing has to have sausage!
yes, i would brown the sausage before or after you do the vegetables. then add it in when you add the vegetables.
Has anyone added sausage to this or have tips how to? My in-laws are big on sausage in their stuffing. Any tips? Should I brown sausage crumbles ahead of time and mix into mixture before baking? Thanks! Excited to try this.
yes i would brown the sausage before or after you do the vegetables. then add it in when you add the vegetables.
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This looks delicious! Do you think I could prep this 2 days in advance and bake the day of?
i would bake it fully 2 days before and then reheat.